![]() Temporarily holding pages together without damaging them has been a challenge for centuries. Why Weren’t Modern Gem-Design Paperclips Invented Sooner? What we do know is that these small metal clips have been around for more than a century and are invaluable in office settings around the world. So we may never know who exactly invented the first ingenuous Gem clip design of paperclips as we know them today. By 1899 a machine that could produce Gem design paper clips was patented in Connecticut by William Middlebrook. Firstly, Vaaler’s designs were square or rectangular, and secondly, modern paperclips had already been around for several years before Vaaler’s patent. There are two flaws with crediting Johan Vaaler with the design of Gem designed paperclips. Vaaler has been widely celebrated in his home country for inventing this tiny piece of modern ingenuity. Since there was no patent office in Norway at the end of the 1800s, Vaaler patented his square and triangular-shaped paperclip designs under an American patent in 1901. ![]() Some sources erroneously credit him with designing the modern gem-shaped paperclip that is used today. If you do some research about the history of paperclips, or why they are called Gem clips, it is likely that the name of a Norwegian scientist and inventor called Johan Vaaler. What we do know for certain is that it was around in its modern form by 1894. Because the oval shape design was never patented, no one knows for sure who first designed it. The invention of modern design paperclips, first manufactured by Gem Manufacturing Ltd in England, is intriguing. However, in some places, paper clips are still called Gem clips. Referring to these handy items simply as ‘paperclips’ is a shortened form of the earlier ‘Gem paper clip’. The Gem clip was easy to hold, didn’t tear papers, didn’t get tangled, and was easy and inexpensive to manufacture. In the end, the Gem design paperclips shone through, and most of the other designs faded into the pages of history. Each designer used a different name when they patented their wire paper clip, like Owl Paper clip and Clipper Paper Clip. During the period when there were many different shapes and varieties on offer, there were various names that distinguished the designs. Paperclips and Gem clips are, therefore, exactly the same thing. This charming ad came with the catchy heading ‘Don’t mutilate your papers’ and goes on to list the benefits of using Gem Clips. The first advertisement for Gem paper clips, with an illustration that confirms the shape to be the same as our modern, familiar paperclips, appeared in 1894. Had they at the time patented these little wire masterpieces, a lot of confusion might have been avoided later on. However, their Gem design paper clip was never patented. This fabulous piece of looped wire is almost exactly the paperclip design we know today. Between 18, more than 50 designs of wire clips were patented in the US, but none of them were the design of the paperclip as we know it today.ĭuring the 1870s, The Gem Manufacturing Company in Britain began production of the ‘Gem paper clip. Are Gem Clips And Paperclips The Same Thing?īefore the curved paper clips, as we know them today, were popular, there were many designs for clips that could hold wads of paper together.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |